Int J Health Life Sci. 2018 July; 4(2):e86087. Published online 2018 November 10. doi: 10.5812/ijhls.86087. Research Article A Comprehensive Evaluation of Fatty Acid Content of Meat Products in Kermanshah Yahya Pasdar 1 , Akbar Barzegar 2, * , Hamed Soleymani 3 , Abbas Hemati Azandaryani 4 and Mitra Darbandi 3 1 Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran 2 Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran 3 Students Research Committee, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran 4 Nano Drug Delivery Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran * Corresponding author: Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. Email: barzegarakbar@gmail.com Received 2018 November 05; Accepted 2018 November 05. Abstract Background: One of the main nutritionally important food compositions is fat and fatty acid. High levels of some fats leave irre- versible effects on community health in the long term. The present study was conducted to determine the amount of fatty acids in meat products. Methods: In the present cross-sectional study, eight types of meat products available on the market were investigated because of their importance, including kebab, hamburger, sausage, red meat, chicken and canned tuna. For the greater accuracy of the results, three fresh samples were prepared from each product and tests were repeated. Fatty acids were extracted from oils by Folch method, and purified following extraction and methylation by AOCS method. Samples obtained were analyzed in a gas chromatography device. Results: The most frequent saturated fatty acids were palmitic and stearic acids in burgers, and palmitic and caproic acids in salami and canned tuna. The most frequent trans-fatty acid (elaidic acid) was found in burgers (15.98 ± 4.69 %). The most frequent saturated fatty acid (SFA) was found in burgers with 62%, which was significantly higher than canned tuna and salami (P = 0.012). The highest level of PUFA was observed in canned tuna (28.6%) and the lowest in burgers (4.6%) (P < 0.001). The ratio of PUFA/MUFA varied from 0.15% in burgers to 1.08% in canned fish (P < 0.001). The ratio of PUFA/SFA was favorable in salami and tuna, but low in burgers (0.07%). The ratios of PUFA/MUFA and PUFA/SFA were different in three groups of protein content foods (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The study revealed that burgers contained higher SFA and TFA levels and lower and PUFA/SFA ratio compare to other studied food groups. Including fatty acids content mainly TFA and SFAs on food labeling highly recommended to improve public nutritional knowledge for choosing safe foods. Keywords: Saturated Fatty Acid, Unsaturated Fatty Acid, Meat Products, Gas Chromatography 1. Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of mortality in the world, and their modifiable risk factors include the lack of regular exercise, unhealthy diet, and smoking (1). There is evidence that increased intake of di- etary fat, especially saturated fatty acids (SFA) increases the risk of CVDs through increased LDL (2, 3). Excessive intake of trans-fatty acids (TFA), more than 4% to 6% of total en- ergy intake increases LDL-C and reduces HDL-C (4). A meta-analysis estimated that that an isocaloric sub- stitution of 2% of the total energy intake (E%) of carbohy- drates with TFA corresponds to a 23% increase in the risk of CVDs (5). Fat and its building block, fatty acid, are a vital macronutrient (6). Fatty acids have key metabolic roles in the body. PUFA, especially omega 3 and 6 series are very important for biological activities and human health (7). Although humans cannot synthesize any of PUFAs’ omega 3 and 6, they become unsaturated and elongated in the human body, consequently, omega 6 turns to arachi- donic acid and omega 3 becomes EPA and DHA, and thus they have been introduced as EFA (8). EPA and DHA have been known as protective factors against heart attacks, de- pression, cancer, and anti-inflammatory in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (9). Type and amount of fatty acids Copyright © 2018, International Journal of Health and Life Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.